MAC Lipstick in Hue

 

 

 

 

Would you believe, this is the very first mac lipstick I have ever tried! I am not one for wearing lipstick, and as much as I was desperate to try a mac lipstick, I begrudged paying £14.00 for one when I knew I probably wouldn't get much wear from it. After much deliberating, I decided to bite the bullet and buy one, but opted for a nude, subtle colour which I knew I'd be brave enough to wear. I was choosing between this one and Crème Cup, but in the end I decided on Hue as it seemed the more wearable of the two!

 

Hue is a glaze finish lipstick, which mac describe as "low-colour impact with sheen-style finish". Hue is described as a 'soft pale pink', which is a perfect description. It is a relatively nude colour with just a hint of pink which would suit most skin tones.

 

It feels really moisturising on the lips, which I love as I suffer with quite dry lips and I don't want to be wearing something which dries them out further. One thing I will say is this does accentuate any dry patches on my lips so I have to make sure I scrub them thoroughly before I apply this. It also doesn't last all that long, probably 2/3 hours, but I'm told this is typical of glaze finishes and the other finishes tend to last a lot longer!

 

Overall I am impressed with the formulation of this and I absolutely love the colour, but would I buy another mac lipstick? Maybe, but only if it was a special or unique colour. I've not been absolutely bowled over by it's staying power, and I think there are good alternatives on the high street, as I think £14.00 is a huge amount of money for a lipstick. I can see why so many people love them, but I think I'll be sticking to cheaper lipsticks for now!

 

This is £14 and available from Debenhams, House of Fraser and Selfridges.

Benefit Hoola

 

 



 

I had been wanting a matte bronzer for absolutely ages, and I couldn't seem to find a cheap, drugstore bronzer that didn't contain shimmer! On a whim, I purchased this from Debenhams after seeing some rave reviews about it!

 

I am a big Benefit fan. I love High Beam and I use They're Real mascara daily, and Hoola has been no different! It is completely matte, which I wanted as I use this for contouring, and has a really lovely silky texture to it. It's not too dark on my pale skin tone, although if you have darker skin it is buildable without looking cakey!

 

The packaging is lovely too. It's in Benefit's traditional box of powders packaging, which is fairly sturdy and I would feel safe chucking this into my make up bag. It comes with a brush which I don't personally use, but this is a nice touch. I also like the fact that it has a built in mirror as this is useful if you want to touch up your make up during the day.

 

This applies really nicely and is really easy to blend into the skin. I mainly use this for contouring but you can use this all over your face for a nice sun-kissed glow without looking orange or dirty!

 

It lasts on my skin all day, and doesn't look cakey no matter how much you apply. It is expensive, but I think it's totally worth it as I haven't found a cheaper alternative that works better!

 

This is £23.50 and available from Debenhams, House of Fraser, Boots and Benefit.



Cream Blush: Bourjois vs. Maybelline

I have only recently discovered my love for blushes in general, and so when I discovered Bourjois were bringing out some cream blushes I knew I had to try them. Whilst I was in Boots purchasing a Bourjois cream blush, these Maybelline ones also caught my eye! From doing some research, I don't actually think these are a new release from Maybelline, but I had never seen them before so decided to pick one up to compare the two!

 

 

 

 

Left: Maybelline, Right: Bourjois

 

The shades I have are Maybelline Dream Touch Blush in 07 Plum, and Bourjois Cream Blush in 03 Rose Tender.

 

The packaging of these are quite different. The Maybelline blush is in a rather sturdy glass pot with a colour coded, screw on lid, whereas the Bourjois blush is in a tiny magnetic compact which contains a handy mirror which is really useful for when you're touching up your make up on the go. Although the Bourjois packaging is more travel-friendly, I actually prefer the Maybelline packaging, simply because I find it easier to open!

 

The consistency of the two products was where I found the most difference. I found the Maybelline offering to be much more creamy and easy to apply than the Bourjois one. I usually use my Real Techniques Stippling Brush to apply these, and I find that the Maybelline blush provides more even application and less work to blend into the cheeks. I have also tried applying these both with my fingers, and again the Maybelline one is much more creamy and easy to blend than the Bourjois.

 

The Bourjois is a cream blush which dries to a powder finish, whereas the Maybelline blush tends to leave a dewy, cream finish on the cheeks. This is all down to personal preference, but I prefer the finish of the Maybelline as it looks more like a natural colouring!

 

In terms of pigmentation, I would say that these two were on a par. I had no complaints about either of their colour payoff, and they both lasted with my make up all day, something which is important to me as I hate touching up my make up throughout the day!

 

Overall, I like both of these products. I think they're both good quality, however my favourite has to be the Maybelline Dream Touch Blush, as I find it easier to apply and blend in!

 

The Maybelline blushes are £6.49 and available from here, the Bourjois blushes are £6.99 (usually £7.99!) from here.



Soap & Glory Hand Food

"Contains shea butter, macadamia oil and marshmallow . Scented with our Original Pink fragrance. the most astonishing hand cream ever? You decide!"

This is described as a non-greasy, hydrating hand cream which contains lotus flower and fennel extracts.

I absolutely love this product. I have been using it for an absolute age, and it is one of the only hand creams I have found which really does sink into the skin almost immediately, leaving no greasy residue whatsoever. I HATE my skin feeling greasy, so this is an absolute must for me when it comes to hand creams.

This is without a doubt an absolutely essential product for me, especially in the colder months when my hands tend to become extremely dry. This really helps to soothe the skin and keeps my hands feeling soft and smooth.

It has the traditional Soap & Glory scent, which I personally am a huge fan of. The scent also lingers on your hands for a good while afterwards. This genuinely leaves your hands feeling soft for hours after use, and I would not be without it anymore.

This is a travel size 50ml which is available from Boots for £2.50, and a full size 125ml is available from Boots for £5.00. Also available is a hand pump of this, which is more for leaving in the bathroom than carrying round with you - £7.00 for 250ml from Boots. 

Treacle Moon Raspberry Kiss Body Scrub

 

 

 

 

Treacle Moon isn't really a brand I had heard much about, however I am often drawn to their products when shopping in Tesco, firstly because I originally thought they were Philosophy products due to the remarkably similar packaging, and secondly because they have a selection of such interesting scents available! The scents in the Treacle Moon range include this one, raspberry, and also vanilla, ginger, lemonade, strawberry, coconut, mango and cinnamon.

 

Products available in each scent include shower gels, bubble baths, body scrubs and body butters.

 

I picked up this raspberry body scrub as I needed a new body scrub and I absolutely adore the smell of this one. It is very sweet and does smell quite artificial, but I love it anyway.

 

This body scrub is a really lovely consistency, and contains small exfoliating particles as well as the larger black ones which you can see in the image above. It does a really good job at removing any dead skin cells from your skin, and leaves your skin feeling lovely and smooth afterwards. I must admit it isn't as effective as my beloved Body Shop body scrubs, but for £2.99 and the wide range of 'flavours' they have, you can't really complain!

 

 

I will probably be picking some more of these up in some different scents, and I also really want to try one of their body butters! I know these are available from Tesco but I have never come across them anywhere else, so I don't know exactly where you can pick them up from I'm afraid!



No7 Beautiful Skin Melting Gel Cleanser

 

 

 

"The first step to beautiful skin is effective cleansing. Specially formulated to effectively clear away dirt and impurities, No7 Beautiful Skin Melting Gel Cleanser leaves dry complexions feeling as soft and supple as normal skin."

 

I'll start by saying that I actually have oily skin, and although this is aimed at people with dry skin, I had heard some good reviews on this that said it would work with oily skin too, so I picked this up as Boots are currently doing their £5 off No7 vouchers.

 

This is a gel cleanser (as the name suggests), which turns into an oil as you massage it into your skin, and changes to a cleansing milk once you begin to wash it off (when you add water to it). I will admit, I was slightly petrified of putting an oil cleanser on my already-oily skin, but even the oiliest of skin needs moisture so I gave it a go.

 

I am actually really impressed with this. It literally 'melts' away your make up, even quite heavy eye make up. It leaves your skin feeling super soft and really clean, something which I feel you don't always get with some cleansers. It doesn't have a strong scent at all, so it should be fine for those who don't get along with scented products. I haven't experienced any break outs from using this, as I have with cleansers in the past.

 

I would really recommend this. Even though it's aimed at people with dry skin, I have found this works perfectly well on my oily skin. This is £9.00 from Boots, although I know they are still doing their £5 off vouchers, so you can purchase this for £4!

 

Avène Eau Thermale Thermal Spring Water

 

 

"Avene Thermal Spring Water contains a unique active ingredient, renowned by dermatologists for its soothing properties. This facial spray is great in hot weather or for soothing irritated skin or sunbun."

 

If I'm being completely honest, I don't know what made me pick this up originally, however I do know that I am 100% glad that I did. I know a lot of people are of the opinion that this is just water in a spray can, but honestly this has worked absolute wonders on my skin.

 

I use this in quite a few different ways. I use it after shaving to help cool and soothe the skin, I actually used it on sunburn last week, I have used it as a make up setting spray, and I have used it just as a general refreshing spray. I find this really makes my skin feel smooth and soft, and I've actually found that it helps to even my skin tone. You can use this over make-up, just be sightly careful as I've found it can come out in rather large bursts so there's always a slight chance that it could mess up your make up but if you're careful this shouldn't be a problem. However, I use this mainly after I have cleansed my skin as I find it just makes my skin feel really nice and refreshed before I go to bed.

 

With the hot weather we had over the bank holiday weekend, this was also really nice to just spray over you when you felt the need, as it is really refreshing and cools you down. I am so glad I picked this up and I will definitely be repurchasing once this runs out. It is such a multi-purpose product, and it's great at soothing any rashes or burns, something which I have known products to struggle with in the past.

 

This 150ml size is £6.50 from Boots and the smaller 50ml size, which is perfect for travelling, is £3.15 also from Boots.

Barry M Nail Art Pens

I had been wanting to try some nail art pens for ages, but somehow had never got round to purchasing any. However when I saw that Barry M, my absolute favourite high street nail polish brand were bringing out these nail art pens, I immediately popped off to Boots in search of some. There are four colours available - black, white, pink and silver. I opted for black and white purely because I thought these would be the 2 I would get the most use out of.

 

 

 

 

Please excuse the rather rubbish "nail art" designs, but in my defence, I haven't had much practice!

 

When you first open these, you have to sort of "pump" the nib on a hard surface to get the polish to come out, but once you've done this, the polish flows smoothly from the tip. The polish inside these is really good quality, it's not too thick so it comes out of the tip in big clumps, but it's thick enough so it has a really good opacity.

 

These are really easy to use, simply hold them like a regular pen and you're on your way. I do find it's extremely difficult to use my right hand with these (I'm left handed), but this obviously comes down to practice!

 

Overall I'm really happy with these - they've given me the perfect opportunity to try out some nail art, they're really good quality, easy to use and affordable! What more could you want?

 

These are available from Boots, Superdrug and www.barrym.com and are priced at £4.99